The U.S. House on Thursday passed a $4.1 trillion budget plan that promises to roll back mandatory spending while paving the way for Republicans to rewrite the tax code later this year.

The House measure, passed by a near-party-line vote of 219-206, calls for more than $5 trillion in spending cuts over the coming decade. This would be achieved by cutting over $200 billion in mandatory spending, enacting reforms such as mandatory work requirements, cutting other health care costs, and forcing huge cuts to domestic programs funded in future years by Congress.

U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, who is the only representative from Texas to sit on the House Budget Committee, said this is a good budget for West Texas. Arrington has often said he believes the nation’s debt is the biggest threat to future generations. He said this is a step to rein in reckless spending.

"This is what the American people expect — that we will do business like they have to do business," said Arrington. "That starts with having a real budget that has to make real trade-offs. We have to live within our means and we can’t get everything we want. We have to prioritize what our needs are. … I always say there’s an unwritten oath that we all take as leaders of our great country, and that is to hand this country (to the next generation) better and stronger and freer. There is nothing better, stronger and freer about $20 trillion in debt."

But Arrington said he won’t rest easy until the Senate approves a similar budget.

Republicans are not actually planning to impose any of those cuts with follow-up legislation that would be required under Washington’s Byzantine budget rules. Instead, those GOP proposals for spending cuts are limited to nonbinding promises. Arrington said what the House voted on are high-level numbers, or the framework, for appropriators to spend money.

Democrats blasted the sweeping spending cuts proposed by Republicans — more than $5 trillion over 10 years in the House plan and somewhat less in the Senate GOP measure — as an assault on middle-class families and the poor.

"Is it a statement of our values to take a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in our country?" said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Arrington said they’re proposing to cut common-sense things.

"That $200 billion in mandatory spending cuts, it is welfare to work reforms, it is removing policies allowing double-dipping into like Social Security, disability and unemployment insurance. That saves billions of dollars," Arrington said.

The motivating force behind the budget measures is the Republicans’ party-defining drive to cut corporate and individual tax rates and rid the tax code of loopholes. They promise this tax reform measure will put the economy in overdrive, fueling economic growth to the 3 percent range and adding a surge of new tax revenues.

The House budget reprises a controversial plan to turn Medicare into a voucher-like program for future retirees as well as the party’s efforts to repeal the "Obamacare" health law. Republicans controlling Congress have no plans to actually implement those cuts while they pursue their tax overhaul.

That’s especially so in the Senate, where the Budget Committee on Thursday gave party-line approval to a companion plan.

Instead, the nonbinding budget’s chief purpose is to set the stage for a tax overhaul plan that is the party’s top political priority as well as a longtime policy dream of key leaders like Speaker Paul Ryan.

"It’s a budget that will help grow our economy, and it’s a budget that will help rein in our debt," said Ryan, R-Wis. "It reforms Medicaid. It strengthens Medicare."

Passing the measure in the House and Senate would provide key procedural help for the tax measure because it sets the stage for follow-on legislation that can’t be filibustered by Senate Democrats. Republicans used the same so-called reconciliation procedure in their failed attempt to kill "Obamacare," including its tax surcharges on wealthy people.

"Through reconciliation, our budget specifically paves the way for pro-growth tax reform that will reduce taxes for middle-class Americans and free up American businesses to grow and hire," said Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who chairs the House Budget Committee.

Eighteen Republicans opposed the measure, including several from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey who are concerned that the upcoming tax effort would repeal the deductions for state and local taxes.

The Senate Budget Committee’s companion plan approved Thursday differs in key details — but would still result in a deficit of $424 billion in 2027, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The House measure assumes the upcoming tax bill won’t add to the deficit; the Senate version, however, would permit the measure to add $1.5 trillion to the $20 trillion-plus national debt over the coming 10 years. The final version is likely to stick closely to the Senate measure in key respects. A final House-Senate agreement won’t come until November, Black said, but she anticipated conflict over the Senate plans.

"That is certainly going to be a very lively discussion," Black said of House-Senate talks. "Our members are concerned about (budget) balance and they’re also concerned about the debt and deficits."

The real-world trajectory of Washington, however, is for higher deficits as Republicans focus on tax cuts, a huge hike in the defense budget, and a growing disaster aid tally that is about to hit $45 billion.

"The train’s left the station, and if you’re a budget hawk, you were left at the station," said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.

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